I’M JUST CURIOUS: Another “embarrassing” adventure

by Debbie Walker

This adventure is a little different than previous ones. Not much mileage involved in this one. I decided to share this adventure with you as another personal Public Service Announcement. It may seem a bit embarrassing to tell, yet that is exactly why I am sharing. Please do share the information.

Some of us girls and guys may have never shared any of the steps of this little adventure. It’s a shame something so natural is so embarrassing. My hopes, for my experience, is to shed some light on this subject. Any groups who would like me to speak on this subject just let me know.

For years this whole process has been building. It all started with little leaks from sneezing, coughing, or laughing. Now that is embarrassing enough but after awhile my friends and I would laugh and share stories about the experience (don’t know if guys ever do). And of course, life with panty liners became important. My secrets became an issue with traveling on land and air, that’s when the more substantial pads were worn for travel and anytime, I was to be from home for too many hours.

Time moves on, the matter appears to get worse, and I begin to realize I don’t always have much of a warning or urge. Then it gets worse. It builds up, I guess, I didn’t feel my bladder fill but did feel it when I would stand, and realize it was too late to get to the lady’s room before it released. As time rolls on and you are still too embarrassed to have an intelligent conversation with a doctor or anyone else, you move into the “monster rag” (Oops, proper language is pad. It should be no surprise to you that sometimes I can be sarcastic.)

I did chat with my primary care doctor at one point, and she put me on a medication that I think helped for a little while. Everyone is different. Recently, I became desperate.

It was one thing to avoid shopping. The panic of not being able to go to a grandchild’s function or not being able to overnight in someone else’s bed because the unthinkable happens is what sent me to a urologist.

The doctor asked a lot of questions about medical history and medications. Something from all these questions could possibly be the answer to my problems. I believe it’s thought that a medication I take could possibly be the answer, but it wasn’t.

The doctor told me I had two options to consider. I really can’t tell you much about the option I did not choose, just that it did not appeal to me. I would like to continue with information about the process I chose in the next couple of columns. But I will tell you that I can already see improvement.

I can’t tell you how important communication is, in so many parts of our lives. This is just another one of the important ones. Communication is discussing the real problem, and listening is also a big part of the process.

I am just curious if this is a subject you need to talk about. Contact me with questions and comments at DebbieWalker@townline.org. I’ll be waiting. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for reading.